DIY CNC 4x5 Plasma Cutter

sheppyfire87

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Registered
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Jan 2, 2019
Messages
6
Hello all,
New member here, cant wait to meet everyone. I decided to document my first CNC built with everyone. The frame is built with material i had laying around my workshop. I have a bunch of supplies coming in the next few days , so i can start working on the gantry. I will post any and all progress i make and i will be asking many questions along the way.

The Frame: 1.5" steel tubing the walls are on the thing side but im trying to keep this as budget friendly as possible.

The Gantry: i will be using 2x2" 11ga tubing that i had laying around. I may have to get new tubing depending on the straightness of the material i have.

Stepper Motors: nema 23 i believe, i bought the set off ebay came with all the electronics.

Driving mechanism: direct drive rack and pinion.

Everything else will come as i run into it.

About myself: I am a 30ish year old machinist(more of a button pusher now). Been doing machining for about 5 years and was a welder for about 9 years before that. Currently talking classes for a mechinal engineering though i have a ways to go. I love to build and tinker with almost anything and love discovering new hobbies.



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Having issues attaching photos cant seem to attach any, gives me a spam alert and wont allow me to attach them


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Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing your build. Can't help you with the pictures but possibly there is a brief waiting period before you can post pictures.
 
Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to seeing your build. Can't help you with the pictures but possibly there is a brief waiting period before you can post pictures.
Thank you maybe ill have better luck on a pc and not my phone but ill give it a couple of days to see if thats the issue

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Okay its letting me post pictures. The first set was from about a week or so ago. This set is from today.

Everything is going pretty good so far though the gantry guides are a little sloppy will have to go back and adjust them.

Getting super excited with the progress so far, I'll be headed out for vacation for about a week, so it will sit as is for a bit, cant wait to get back to it.

Does anyone have tips on how to check the squareness of the x axis?

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I can't wait to see more progress.... I am planning on building one of these the same size after I get my Bridgeport CNC conversion running... Great work so far! I like your bearings and square tube drive rails, that is a very cost effective way to build it and should be plenty accurate enough for a cnc plasma cutter.... Those servo mounts look cnc cut lol awesome job...

Have you figured out what cnc controller you are going to use yet?
 
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An ME that can actually build s*** will be in high demand, keep going for it. My stepson has a ME PHD, and probably has a hard time changing a head light, but he makes good money, I'm sure he can CAD out a good design system for it. I am very, very proud of him though. :encourage:
 
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